Podcast TCCR #008 - Memetic theory and the meme as a unit of cultural meaning

This episode explores one of the most original and innovative contributions of the "Cognosystemic Theory of Human Psychosocial Relational Construction" (TCCR): the critical incorporation of memetic theory as a framework for understanding the circulation of meaning within psychosocial systems. Here, the cognosystemic meme is introduced as a minimal unit of narrative meaning that structures, transforms, or reinforces both collective and individual narratives.

Origins of Memetic Theory

The episode begins by introducing the concept of the meme as originally proposed by Richard Dawkins in 1976: a unit of cultural transmission analogous to the gene. It explores subsequent developments by Susan Blackmore, who described memetic dynamics in terms of replication, variation, and selection, and Kate Distin, who expanded the concept toward a semiotic understanding. Recent contributions on digital and communicational memetics are also discussed, which are essential in today’s context.

A Critical Reinterpretation from the TCCR

The TCCR does not adopt this theory in a literal or biologicist way. Instead, it reinterprets it through a narrative, intersubjective, and systemic lens. From this perspective, memes are not mere automatic content replications, but meaning-laden narrative fragments that circulate across individuals, groups, institutions, and cultures.

The Meme as a Narrative Unit of Meaning

The TCCR defines the cognosystemic meme as the minimal unit of narrative meaning capable of influencing perception, emotion, behavior, and relationships. These memes can carry norms, mandates, beliefs, or emotions, and function as symbolic structures deeply embedded in everyday life.

Properties of the Cognosystemic Meme

This episode outlines key characteristics of cognosystemic memes:

- They are narratively codifiable.

- They can replicate with high fidelity or mutate depending on the context.

- They are more or less resistant to change, depending on their integration within broader narrative systems.

- They subtly but persistently shape identity, relationships, and cultural processes.

Memetic Circulation and the Cognosystem

Memes circulate across narrative levels—micro, meso, macro, and the chronosystem—structuring the Cognosystem. This circulation functions as a form of narrative feedback, reinforcing dominant structures or enabling cultural change. Understanding this flow is key to intervening in dynamics of power, exclusion, or social transformation.

Examples of Common Psychosocial Memes

This episode offers concrete examples of culturally embedded memes:

- “Men don’t cry.”

- “Poverty is the fault of the lazy.”

- “Family is everything.”

These memes operate as condensed meaning nuclei that shape attitudes, justify inequalities, or sustain social bonds. Identifying them helps to denaturalize deeply rooted beliefs.

Implications for Social Work

The memetic lens of the TCCR provides powerful analytical tools to:

- Detect oppressive cultural mandates embedded in individual and collective narratives.

- Facilitate processes of narrative deconstruction and the creation of new, transformative stories.

- Recognize that deep cultural change also requires collective memetic transformation.

This episode closes with a key idea: the cognosystemic meme reveals how the meanings that sustain human psychosocial reality are produced, circulated, and transformed. It is both a theoretical and practical tool for thinking about intervention—from the most micro level to the most structural.

Listen and discover how what we share, repeat, or question in our everyday narratives has the power to change the world.

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